The Diocese of Exeter has joined with Energy Action Devon to promote CosyDevon as a way of helping local people avoid fuel poverty next winter. This involves free and discounted home insulation for households in Devon, Plymouth and Torbay.

You may not be thinking about your heating bill during these warmer summer months, but now is the best time to start planning for the winter ahead.

As autumn closes in, more and more people start preparing for the colder seasons and arranging their insulation measures. Be canny and cosy this year by beating the rush and getting your insulation installed during the summer.

Right now there is funding available for all homeowners and private tenants in Devon to offer free and heavily discounted prices on loft and cavity wall insulation.

Installing insulation in your home can save you up to £340 pa off your heating bill and can reduce your carbon dioxide emissions, making your home greener, as well as helping you stay warm and cosy.

For further information please ring (freephone) 0800 512012 and quoting 012 as a reference number or visit www.cosydevon.co.uk.

Notes for clergy

Fuel Poverty is a big concern in urban and rural Devon, defined as when more than 10% of income is needed to achieve temperatures required to maintain health and comfort. We know, for instance, that many pensioners will skip meals in order to pay for heating.

Clearly one way of addressing this, as a matter of pastoral care and justice, is to encourage people to better insulate their homes. CosyDevon helps by offering free or discounted insulation to homeowners and private tenants if they are in a ‘priority group’- being over 70 or receiving benefits such as Income Support, Housing Benefit State Pension Credits or Disablement Allowances. CosyDevon, which is based in Plymouth, also offers generous discounts to those outside of this group.

We are encouraging our churches to refer people to this opportunity and this is the right time to make plans for next winter. You can either refer people to us or (preferably) contact CosyDevon direct on (freephone) 0800 512012 quoting 012 as a reference, or via the website www.cosydevon.co.uk.  There are two posters available to promote the scheme, which can be downloaded here (jpg, 161kb) and here (jpg, 156kb).

This scheme has health, environmental and economic benefits and if you can help to promote in your parish or Mission Community it is a positive example of Social Responsibility in local action. The Diocese will receive a small fee for every completed installation, but our reasons for doing this are to address real concerns of people suffering from colder temperatures and also to reduce carbon emissions by wasting less energy.